Alaska’s Insurance Director Resigns

The state’s insurance director is resigning. Bret Kolb is leaving to become development director at Victory Ministries of Alaska, a bible camp and conference center based in Palmer. He has been on the job at the Division of Insurance for 18 months, during a time of incredible upheaval in the health insurance industry, with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Kolb says he doesn’t worry about leaving in the middle of that change:

“The division is well staffed. We have good people in place who understand the difficulties that are being faced. So between that and having a deputy director in place in Juneau who has insurance industry experience, I’m sure it will go on without a misstep.”

Kolb’s last day with the division will be December 19th. He’s working with health insurance companies now to figure out how to allow at least some individual plans that were supposed to be canceled starting in 2014 to continue. President Obama announced the so-called “fix” to the Affordable Care Act earlier this month following public outcry over canceled plans.

Kolb lives in the valley and says he’s looking forward to a much shorter commute with his new job.

Annie Feidt is the Editor and Producer of Alaska News Nightly, and is also a frequent contributor to the show. Her reporting has taken her searching for polar bears on the Chukchi Sea ice, out to remote checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail, and up on the Eklutna Glacier with scientists studying its retreat. Her stories have been heard nationally on NPR and Marketplace.
Annie’s career in radio journalism began in 1998 at Minnesota Public Radio, where she produced the regional edition of All Things Considered. She moved to Anchorage in 2004 with her husband, intending to stay in the 49thstate just a few years. She has no plans to leave anytime soon.
afeidt (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8443 | About Annie